7 orang asli children aged between seven and 11 went missing for 46 days in hilly terrain described as unforgiving by adult hikers, but miraculously, two have survived.

PHOTO: The Star

KOTA BARU - Physically, Miksudiar Aluj is no longer the emaciated girl whose pictures alongside her best friend Noreen Yaakob shocked Malaysians after she miraculously survived 46 days in the jungles of Pos Tohoi.

But no one can really know the extent of the 11-year-old's emotional trauma of being lost in the wild and watching her friends die.

Miksudiar and Noreen, 10, were the only survivors among seven Orang Asli children who ran away from SK Tohoi and went missing on Aug 23.

The seven children were initially believed to have fled into the forest to avoid punishment for swimming in a nearby river without permission.

Miksudiar's uncle Surin Seman, 29, who is with her at Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II, said her family had tried to get her to open up but was unsuccessful.

"Besides telling us they ran away from school because they were afraid of being punished, she has said very little about what happened in the jungle.